ONE Championship: Arjan Bhullar warns ‘dirty Russian’ Anatoly Malykhin ‘I’ll take your head’
- Heavyweight champion tells undefeated challenger they will fight on his terms – ‘I’m the king and I decide the rules of engagement’
- ‘We’re going to make sure Anatoly’s clean for the fight, and then I’m going to do him dirty,’ Bhullar adds
ONE Championship heavyweight king Arjan Bhullar is still working out the details for his next fight, but he’s already serving up some trash talk for the man he expects to face.
Bhullar, 35, captured the ONE heavyweight belt in May, when he stopped long-time champion Brandon Vera with a storm of second-round strikes. The Indian-Canadian is now negotiating with the Asian promotion to set up his first defence.
That match-up isn’t a done deal yet, but all signs point to a showdown with unbeaten Russian contender Anatoly Malykhin, who has scored knockout wins over Alexandre Machado and Amir Aliakbari since joining ONE.
“It will most likely be that Russian,” Bhullar (11-1) told the Post of Malykhin (10-0). “I think he’s proven he should be the next guy. He’s come through the Russian [MMA] system and before that the Russian wrestling system. You can’t deny his body of work in terms of the years of training and the success that he’s had.”
While Bhullar is willing to concede the 33-year-old “Spartak” has earned a title shot, he is adamant the fight will be made on his terms.
Malykhin has seemingly tried to get into Bhullar’s head, insinuating the champion is too scared to fight him by posting a video to social media where he chases after several chickens shouting “Arjan!”.